newstuff@microsoft.com

School's out and summer's here, but that's no excuse for letting your Internet applications grow stale. Before you clean off the barbecue grill, take a look at the spread of ripe, tangy New Stuff gathered here for you. We've got tools for developing Active Server Pages, accessing online datastores, adding biometric security, diagramming with ActiveX, and getting connected to the network. We'll also show you some new tools that let you build Web sites and online communities, and a special site for children. Enjoy! The Bookshelf       Active Server Pages (ASP) are all the rage these days, and the most effective way to extend them is to develop custom ASP components. Shelley Powers is the author of Developing ASP Components, published by O'Reilly and Associates. This book is designed to teach you how to use the same language for both client and server-side scripting (using either JScript®, JavaScript, or VBScript), and how to easily add in components for extended functionality. Developing add-on controls and components is emerging as a multibillion dollar industry. Powers' new book provides developers with information and real-world examples they need to create custom ASP components using any of the three major development tools: Visual Basic®, Visual C++®, and Visual J++®. O'Reilly and Associates 101 Morris Street Sebastopol, CA 95472 800-998-9938, 707-829-0515 http://www.oreilly.com Chili!Soft Supports More Platforms       Speaking of ASP, Chili!Soft released Chili!Soft ASP 3.0 during Spring Comdex, adding support for new platforms and providing security, performance, and usability enhancements. New features include compatibility with Microsoft® FrontPage® 2000 and support for the Java language through the integration of new Chili!Beans technology.       Chili!Soft further expands its Unix platform support to include IBM's AIX operating system. Users may now develop and run ASP applications on Apache, Netscape, and Lotus Web servers running on IBM's RS/6000 computers. For the first time, companies may combine the cost-saving and ease-of-use benefits of developing in ASP with the performance, reliability, and scalability of deploying on the AIX platform. Chili!Soft ASP fully supports all of the popular database connection types generated by FrontPage 2000. Through Chili!Beans, ASP developers can easily access Java classes with ASP script. ASP developers can connect to an Enterprise JavaBean (EJB) running in an EJB application server or use Java2's CORBA support to connect to legacy CORBA objects.     Additional enhancements include a new engine architecture for reliable, scalable performance, fast ActiveX Data Objects for speedier database connectivity, new security modes and configuration options, and new drivers for Microsoft SQL Server™ and Microsoft Access databases. A free trial version is available at the Chili!Soft Web site. Chili!Soft Inc. 13920 SE Eastgate Way Suite 120 Bellevue, WA 98005 425-957-1122 http://www.chilisoft.com ForeSite's Upgraded Application Server        InfoSpinner Inc. recently announced the availability of the ForeSite Application Server version 3.0, its scalable application server technology designed to integrate packaged and newly developed applications with legacy data and applications. InfoSpinner has expanded the ability of the ForeSite Application Server to leverage current investment in information technology resources, ranging from infrastructure such as applications, development tools, deployment architecture, and data to the core skills of existing and available development resources. The ForeSite Application Server open integration framework helps shorten time to deployment and supports distributed computing and component standards.       ForeSite's new features include Enterprise XML, a packaged Java Integration Framework with JavaBeans that uses XML for enterprise data access, XML Wizards, full encryption of intra-cluster communication, and drag and drop application integration. The new ForeSite SIMs—Message Queue SIM, Servlet SIM, Host Integration SIM, and Transaction Server SIM—include connectivity to MQ Series, CICS, and Java Servlet applications. In addition, InfoSpinner has developed the ForeSite Host Integration SIM, which combines host integration for 3270, 5250, and VT applications. With the addition of the new ForeSite SIMs, ForeSite Application Server can retrieve information from any data system and integrate it into a dynamic Web page. InfoSpinner Inc. 1601 N. Glenville Drive Suite 108 Richardson, TX 75081 972-479-0135 http://www.infospinner.com Speed Up Database Access       Angara Database Systems Inc. has started shipping the Angara Data Server, a relational database management system (RDBMS) that uses main memory as the primary data store. Angara's main-memory system gives an edge to high-performance database application development by delivering performance increases up to 1,000 times faster than data access from disk, and more than 20 times faster than the cache of disk-based RDBMSs. Angara provides a fully functional RDBMS that leverages the speed of DRAM access to support today's complex, database-intensive business applications, especially electronic commerce implementations. With a SQL programming interface, the Angara Data Server can be easily integrated into database applications that require a high-performance RDBMS. Persistent storage for log files and checkpoint images is addressed with local disk drives or a network file server. The Angara Data Server is designed to eliminate the performance tuning associated with conventional disk-based database systems. The Angara Data Server is available on Windows NT® and popular Unix platforms (HP, IBM, Sun, and Linux) directly from Angara. Angara Database Systems Inc. 3045 Park Boulevard Palo Alto, CA 94306 888-952-5200, 650-321-2700 http://www.angara.com Secure Your System with SecureSuite        I/O Software's SecureSuite version 2.1 is designed to bring the convenience and security of biometric and other authentication methods to a PC or network environment. SecureSuite enhances the security of your computer and the data stored on it by requiring a fingerprint or other biometric characteristic to be verified before allowing access. SecureSuite is compatible with Windows® 95, Windows 98, and Windows NT, and allows network administrators to secure their client/server systems.       Two new applications have been added to SecureSuite to give users a wider range of security: SecureEntrust and SecureApp. SecureEntrust supports Entrust Technologies Public-Key Infrastructure (PKI), and allows Entrust/PKI users to take advantage of SecureSuite's biometric and other authentication services. SecureApp is a security tool that can prevent any application from being launched by unauthorized users.     Other applications included in SecureSuite are SecureStart, an enhanced secure logon for Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows NT in both standalone workstation and client/server implementations; SecureFolder, a file and folder encryption application; and SecureSession, a password bank/single sign-on utility.     SecureSuite works with any BAPI-compliant device and supports four types of authentication including biometrics, smart cards, tokens, and dockless tokens. Supported devices include AuthenTec Harris FingerLoc, SDK100 BII Silicon, VeriPrint 1000/1100, IriScan System 2100, MirosTrueFace, Dallas Semiconductor iButton, Rainbow Technologies ikey, and RF Ideas Inc. AIR ID. A current list of products supported can be found at I/O Software's Web site. I/O Software Inc. 1533 Spruce Street Riverside, CA 92507 909-222-7600 http://www.iosoftware.com ActiveX Diagramming Component       ProtoView Development Corporation recently launched InterAct version 3.0, an ActiveX® component that enables developers to add diagramming capabilities to their applications. Because it is built as a COM object, it can be utilized in a wide variety of application development environments including Visual Basic, Visual C++, and Visual InterDev™. Among its new features, InterAct now has support for VBScript and JScript through the Microsoft scripting engine. This enables developers to create powerful process automation applications that are interactive and visual. InterAct 3.0's new features include the ability to create walkthroughs of code execution, complete with built-in commands for run, pause, stop, goto, and if…then…else commands. This feature works with the developer's choice of language, including Visual Basic for Applications, JScript, VBScript, and C++.       InterAct also includes an Overview window that displays a thumbnail image of the diagram being edited. Multiple diagrams can share a single Overview window as the user switches between diagrams. The visible area on each diagram is displayed using a rectangle that can be moved to navigate the diagram, as well as resized to zoom in or out. With the automatic diagram layout capabilities, diagrams can be quickly and easily organized in either a hierarchical or compact format. Additional properties are available that allow developers to customize layouts to their own specifications.     InterAct now supports multiple clipboard formats to cut, copy, and paste between diagrams or into any third-party image-ready application running under Windows (Microsoft Office, Adobe Photoshop, CorelDraw, and others). ProtoView Development Corporation 2540 Route 130 Cranbury, NJ 08512 800-231-8588, 609-655-5000 http://www.protoview.com/interact Dart Unbundles PowerTCP       Dart Communications' Internet toolkit for building TCP/IP applications, PowerTCP, has been unbundled and reengineered as the new PowerTCP Tool product line. Responding to customer demand for affordable, individually packaged, royalty-free ActiveX components, Dart introduces all new PowerTCP Tools including the FTP Tool, Winsock Tool, Telnet Tool, Emulation Tool, and Server Tool.       PowerTCP Tools allow software developers to write Internet applications in less time than it would take to construct networking code from scratch. 32-bit ATL controls for TCP, FTP, POP3, SMTP, RAS, Telnet, SNMP, VT320, UDP, Server, and HTTP/S reduce the need for researching, developing, and testing at the socket level. Included samples for Visual Basic, Visual C++, C++Builder, Delphi, and PowerBuilder allow developers to write high-performance Internet apps right out of the box.     Additional benefits of the new PowerTCP Tools include a modular, multitier architecture for flexibility in application design, Winsock 2 compatibility, and the addition of blocking behavior for scripting applications. A free trial version is available at their Web site. Dart Communications 6647 Old Thompson Road Syracuse, NY 13211 315-431-1024 http://www.dart.com Develop Communities on the Web       IntraActive Software Corporation announced at Microsoft Tech Ed '99 that ActiveForum 2.0, a community building platform that enables developers to add threaded discussion forums to their Web applications, is available for download from their Web site. ActiveForum is based on state-of-the-art software component technologies and is designed to support open Internet standards. The out-of-the-box solution gives developers freedom to control their site's appearance and usage. This enables Web developers to leverage the distinct visual identity of their Web sites in their build discussion forums.       ActiveForum is built on and takes advantage of the Windows DNA architecture, so developers can use standard scripting languages such as VBScript and JScript to build ActiveForum applications.     ActiveForum allows developers to build discussion forums, including public, private, and moderated forums that have groupware capabilities such as threading, HTML-in-messages, search, auto-login, message alerts, dynamic message tagging, import/export, and file attachments with file upload.     Based on server-side Java language and XML technologies, ActiveForum features an object API that gives developers full access to all forums, messages, and user attributes. This allows developers to choose the storage medium from relational databases to news servers to file systems. The COM components also take advantage of the advanced object management and transaction services provided by Microsoft Transaction Server for performance, scalability, and reliability. As a result, ActiveForum can support an unlimited number of messages, forums, and users. ActiveForum also supports any browser and takes advantage of the latest in Dynamic HTML, ActiveX, and Java language applets. IntraActive Software Corporation 11 Broadway, Suite 1131 New York, NY 10004 212-425-1122 http://www.iasoft.com WYSIWYG Web Editor       Ektron Inc. recently announced the release of its WYSIWYG WebEditor version 1.0. This Web content development and administration tool allows users to input and edit Web content by cutting and pasting directly from Microsoft Word, WordPad, or even from the Microsoft Internet Explorer browser without losing formatting. Ektron's WYSIWYG WebEditor is designed to work with any dynamic Web server, including sites developed with ColdFusion and ASP. In addition to generating HTML output, Ektron's WYSIWYG WebEditor can read back saved HTML code and display it in WYSIWYG format. The tool's functions include image support and hyperlinks, as well as formatting with bullets, indentation, font color, font size, bold, italic, underline, justification, and the undo command. Multiple font faces are in development and will be released soon. The CAB file is small, with the ActiveX taking only seconds to download. Check out Ektron's Web site for an online demo of the WYSIWYG WebEditor. Ektron Inc. 5 Northern Boulevard, Suite 6 Amherst, NH 03031 603-594-0249 http://www.ektron.com A Nonviolent Site for Kids       OK, this is off the subject of Internet developer tools, but it's worth a look anyway. With the recent attention to youth violence, and the dizzying pace of capital flowing into Internet startups, you'd think that an adventure site for teens would be an investor's delight. One content-driven site has been endorsed by Crime Stoppers of Miami and Miami-Dade County Public Schools. "Earthstory.com continues to be an exciting project with many positive implications for teaching and learning in the science and language arts curriculum," says Joseph Mathos, Deputy Director for Education of the nation's fourth-largest school district.       Unfortunately, money is scarce. Lack of support continues to mystify Hope Marcus, creator of Earthstory.com. Her vision of a young adult literary site has been in the making for nine years, but it wasn't until the fall of 1997 that she began the search for funds. "Maybe I hit the sources before the need became apparent," she now says.     Marcus believes the content-driven site could be a model for advertisers. While advertising revenues doubled from 1997 to 1998, those currently advertising online are spending less. If this topic interests you, please contact Marcus at info@earthstory.com. In the meantime, check out the site at http://www.earthstory.com.

Does your company provide development tools for interactive applications? We'd love to hear the news! Email us at newstuff@microsoft.com.

From the July 1999 issue of Microsoft Internet Developer.